Ridpath Hotel's future still in doubt
Two months after the city of Spokane cracked down on the owners of the decrepit Ridpath Hotel, cleanup efforts are slowly moving forward. But even as plans for bringing the iconic downtown hotel back to life are being publicly aired, the obstacles remain daunting, from a wildly complicated ownership picture to a variety of legal entanglements and a weak economy.
Last week, city officials took the next step in their demand for a cleanup. Following two hearings, several inspections and weeks of limited progress, letters identifying specific code violations were sent to property owners. Owners have taken steps to better secure the building and performed some cleanup work, but many of the city’s demands remain unmet – most urgent is the need for fire detection and suppression systems, officials say. Not one of the owners has provided a written plan for cleanup or a long-range plan for their property.
The biggest roadblock is the tangled and divided ownership of the main Ridpath tower and two neighboring buildings, with several parties holding some 29 pieces of the property. Some properties are under foreclosure or headed that way, and a recent bankruptcy has added to the problems. Several owners are locked in a legal battle over past sales. The mess is making it hard to get basic problems fixed, such as broken windows, building security and fire safety, and creating a nightmare over access to water, power and other utilities.
Now a central player in the hotel – a man at the crux of many of the piecemeal deals of recent years – faces legal problems that may further complicate the scenario. Greg Jeffreys is accused in a recent lawsuit of fraudulently taking $1.3 million owed to his lender and disbursing it to others, including his family and himself. He is also a key defendant in a lawsuit filed by several property owners at the Ridpath, who accuse him of misrepresenting property values, among other things.
“That building is in a financial avalanche right now,” Lawrence “Mickey” Brown, who owns part of the property and is among those suing Jeffreys, said at a city hearing in late May. “It’s in free fall, and its value is dropping by the second.”
Brown told the city building official at the hearing that he has a vision for the Ridpath, complete with people willing to spend the money on a major project – but only once the legal situation is cleared up.
Another man, Stephen Antonietti, has put together a plan to consolidate ownership of the building and reopen it as a hotel. Antonietti, a local builder and investor, is making offers on behalf of an investment group on two major pieces of the hotel, acting as a contact person for several Ridpath owners, working on repairs, and meeting with city officials and bankers trying to move his plan forward, he said.
Bank Of Whitman - News
“To me, it's a complete travesty what's gone on there, the way the ownership is broken up,” said Tom Hammons, senior vice president of the Bank of Whitman, which owns some commercial spaces on the First Avenue side of the block as a result of a
Other corporate sponsors included FactSet Research Systems, Jarden Corporation, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Media Storm, People's United Bank, and Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan LLC. Ms. Barnes expressed thanks to all of the sponsors and donors, saying,
Lakeland Bank of Oak Ridge recently honored six employees with the Employee of the Quarter Award. Frank Bianchi, Barbara Ann Caine, Mary Franchini, Denise Posthumus, Joanne Whitman, and Carolyn Luisi were presented with the employee of the quarter
Jan Whitman sees the problems that people are facing these days. She's the Director of the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley. Whitman says demand for assistance is still increasing, as it has for the past two years. Whitman has worked for the Food Bank
Tony Ferguson (file photo) pocketed an extra $40K with his UFC contract. | Photo: Jeff Sherwood/ Kingsbury and Maldonado took home “Fight of the Night” honors, while Ferguson and Duran were awarded
Bank of Whitman ordered to raise funds or find a merger partner ...
FRB: Press Release–Board issues enforcement actions with Bank of Whitman, Idaho Banking Company, and Market Bancorporation–February 15, 2011 .
Colfax-based Bank of Whitman is the last local bank of modest size. They’ve been ordered to raise capital or merge with another bank within 90 days.
While Bank of Whitman has not failed yet, this is close to a death sentence.
Bank of Whitman joins AmericanWest Bank (went into Chapter 11) and Sterling Savings (de facto “in place” bankruptcy that wiped out the shareholders and converted the taxpayer’s TARP loan into common shares). Sterling was too big to conveniently fail.
Essentially, all 3 sizable and locally owned banks in the Spokane area have failed – plus The Union Credit Union.
Whitman and AmericanWest are essentially local banks, while Sterling had a wider footprint. Local bank failures may be a proxy measure of the local economy or they could be due to incompetent bank managers.
Will there be a local buyer or will ownership be transferred outside the area as happened with AmericanWest and Sterling? This web site is the culmination of a part time hobby in understanding why many manufacturing and tech companies closed up or left Spokane. In early 2009 I wondered why several prominent local businesses had closed and moved elsewhere and began to look into figuring that out.
What I learned surprised me - and changed my perception of what I thought I knew about Spokane. By "Spokane" I mean the entire county, not just the City of Spokane.
Click on the "Start Here" link - and be surprised by what you'll learn. I was surprised to learn these problems have been around for decades and are documented in many official reports on the region's economy.
Spokane's near future looks to be what it has today: government, health care, education, warehousing/distribution, and support services, plus some niche businesses. And a split population - 35% to 40% will work in the higher paid government, health care, education sector - and the rest will tend to be in low wage jobs, unfortunately.
This web site is based on actual data. Because much of the data is presently sour, that may be misinterpreted as cynical . There is a difference between realist and cynical. But regarding the review of 30 years of economic strategy reports - that's borderline cynical but with good reason.
Bank Of Whitman - Bookshelf
A treatise on the law of stock-brokers and stock-exchanges
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The American and English annotated cases, containing the important cases selected from the current American, Canadian, and English reports
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Bank v. Whitman, 94 US 343 [24 L. ed. 229]. This brines us to the question as to whether complainant can recover upon this check as against the Bank. ...The Pacific reporter
Ct. 439, and the previous decisions of said court thereon (Bank v. Millard, 10 Wall. 152; Bank v. Whitman, 94 US 343) are in conflict with defendant in ...Casual Info Directory
Bank of Whitman - Home
Serving Eastern Washington State is FDIC insured and is a full service bank offering checking, CDs, money markets, credit cards and other financial products.
Bank of Whitman :: Good Bankers. Good Friends.
Bank of Whitman is an independent, locally- and employee-owned community bank that serves communities across Southeast Washington state and the city of Spokane, Washington.
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Bank of Whitman in Colfax, Washington (WA) ... Bank Charter Class: Commercial bank, state charter and Fed member, supervised by the Federal Reserve (FRB) ...